Real time multiple agent engagement decision system

Abstract

Agent/client pairs in at least one priority tier are determined. A matrix value is determined for each agent/client pair based on the client rank of the agent/client pair. An engagement capability parameter is determined for each agent/client pair. The matrix value for each disallowed agent/ranked client value is set to a zero value. All possible engagement options are evaluated. Candidate pair paths are determined by determining pair paths having a highest initial path value. The initial path value of each candidate pair path is decreased based on agent/client pairs in the candidate pair path that are urgent agent/client pairs or risky agent/client pairs to derive a final path value for each candidate pair path. A best path is determined based on the final path value for each candidate pair path. At least one engagement decision is derived based on the best path and transmitted towards agents in the best path.

1 . A method of generating a coordinated set of engagement parameters by a processor in a multiple agent engagement decision system, the method comprising:
 determining agent/client pairs in at least one priority tier based on a number of clients and a number of agents, wherein each agent/client pair has an agent, a client, and a client rank of the client;   determining a matrix value for each agent/client pair based on the client rank of the client of the agent/client pair;   determining an engagement capability parameter for each agent/client pair;   setting the matrix value for each disallowed agent/ranked client value to a zero value, wherein a disallowed agent/client pair has an engagement capability margin that is below a defined threshold;   evaluating a plurality of engagement options wherein each engagement option is a pair path from an agent/client pair having a highest client rank to an agent/client pair having a lowest client rank with each pair path having an agent/client pair for each client in the at least one priority tier;   for each engagement option, computing an initial path value of each pair path of the engagement option;   determining candidate pair paths by determining pair paths having a highest initial path value, wherein the pair paths having the highest initial path value are candidate pair paths;   for each candidate pair path, decreasing the initial path value of the candidate pair path based on agent/client pairs in the candidate pair path that are urgent agent/client pairs and based on agent/client pairs in the candidate pair path that are risky agent/client pairs to derive a final path value for the candidate pair path;   determining a best path based on the final path value for each candidate pair path;   deriving at least one engagement decision based on the best path; and   transmitting the at least one engagement decision towards agents in the best path.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 determining agent/client pairs that are urgent agent/client pairs and agent/client pairs that are risky agent/client pairs by: 
 determining that an agent/client pair is an urgent agent/client pair responsive to the engagement capability parameter of the agent/client pair being within a first threshold and a second threshold; and 
 determining that an agent/client pair is a risky agent/client pair responsive to the engagement capability parameter of the agent/client pair being below a risk threshold. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein determining agent/client pairs in the at least one priority tier based on the number of clients and the number of agents comprises:
 dynamically obtaining, from a status processor, the number of clients, the number of agents, and for each client, the client rank of the client; 
 determining, based on the number of clients, the client rank of each client, and the number of agents, the at least one priority tier; and 
 grouping a number of agent/client pairs into the at least one priority tier according to a client rank of the client in an agent/client pair. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising deriving a value matrix of the at least one priority tier based on the number of agents and the number of clients in the at least one priority tier, wherein the value matrix has a number of rows that is less than or equal to a number of agents that needs a decision and is less than or equal to the number of clients. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein deriving the value matrix further comprises enabling more than one agent to engage a client by adding a lower ranked row to the value matrix for the client. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein each engagement option is a pair path from an agent/client pair in a top row of the value matrix to an agent/client pair in each intermediate row of the value matrix and to an agent/client pair in a bottom row of the value matrix wherein each agent and client in each agent/client in the pair path are different from other agents and clients in agent/client pairs of the pair path. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 setting a matrix value of each agent/client pair in a bottom row of the value matrix to a value of 1; and   setting the matrix value of each agent/client pair having successively higher client rank to a successively higher value by a power of 2 N−1  where N is a number of a row in which the agent/client pair is located in the value matrix with the bottom row having a matrix value of 1.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein decreasing the initial path value of the candidate pair path based on agent/client pairs in the candidate pair path that are urgent agent/client pairs and based on agent/client pairs in the candidate pair path that are risky agent/client pairs comprises:
 for each agent/client pair in the candidate pair path that is an urgent agent/client pair, decreasing the initial path value of the candidate pair path by the matrix value of the urgent agent/client; and   for each agent/client pair in the candidate path that is a risky agent/client pair, decreasing the initial path value of the candidate pair path by a risk value based on the engagement capability parameter of the risky agent/client pair.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein deriving the at least one engagement decision based on the best path comprises:
 responsive to the best path having an urgent agent/pair and the engagement capability of the urgent agent/pair is within a decision threshold or a time-to-go is within a time threshold, determining a first action for the agent in the urgent agent/client pair to perform; 
 responsive to agents in agent/client pairs in the best path not being urgent agent/client pairs, determining a second action for the agents in agent/client pairs in the best path to take wherein the second action to take for the agents in agent/client pairs in the best path is to stay the course; and 
   wherein transmitting the at least one engagement decision towards agents in the best path comprises:
 transmitting the first action towards the agent in the urgent agent/client pair responsive to determining the first action; and 
 transmitting the second action to stay the course towards the agents in agent/client pairs in the best path that are not an urgent agent/client pair. 
   
     
     
         10 . A computer program having a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that when executed on a processor comprised in a device cause the device to perform operations comprising:
 determining agent/client pairs in at least one priority tier based on a number of clients and a number of agents, wherein each agent/client pair has an agent, a client, and a client rank of the client;   determining a matrix value for each agent/client pair based on the client rank of the client of the agent/client pair;   determining an engagement capability parameter for each agent/client pair;   setting the matrix value for each disallowed agent/ranked client value to a zero value, wherein a disallowed agent/client pair has an engagement capability margin that is below a defined threshold;   evaluating a plurality of engagement options wherein each engagement option is a pair path from an agent/client pair having a highest client rank to an agent/client pair having a lowest client rank with each pair path having an agent/client pair for each client in the at least one priority tier;   for each engagement option, computing an initial path value of each pair path of the engagement option;   determining candidate pair paths by determining pair paths having a highest initial path value, wherein the pair paths having the highest initial path value are candidate pair paths;   for each candidate pair path, decreasing the initial path value of the candidate pair path based on agent/client pairs in the candidate pair path that are urgent agent/client pairs and based on agent/client pairs in the candidate pair path that are risky agent/client pairs to derive a final path value for the candidate pair path;   determining best path based on the final path value for each candidate pair path;   deriving at least one engagement decision based on the best path; and   transmitting the at least one engagement decision towards agents in the best path.   
     
     
         11 . The computer program of  claim 10  wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium comprises further computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the device to perform operations comprising:
 determining agent/client pairs that are urgent agent/client pairs and agent/client pairs that are risky agent/client pairs by: 
 determining that an agent/client pair is an urgent agent/client pair responsive to the engagement capability parameter of the agent/client pair being within a first threshold and a second threshold; and 
 determining that an agent/client pair is a risky agent/client pair responsive to the engagement capability parameter of the agent/client pair being below a risk threshold. 
 
     
     
         12 . The computer program of  claim 10  wherein determining agent/client pairs in the at least one priority tier based on the number of clients and the number of agents comprises:
 dynamically obtaining, from a status processor, the number of clients, the number of agents, and for each client, the client rank of the client; 
 determining, based on the number of clients and a number of agents, the at least one priority tier; and 
 grouping a number of agent/client pairs into the at least one priority tier according to a client rank of the client in an agent/client pair. 
 
     
     
         13 . The computer program of  claim 10  wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium comprises further computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the device to perform operations comprising: deriving a value matrix of the at least one priority tier based on the number of agents and the number of clients in the at least one priority tier, wherein the value matrix has a number of rows that is less than or equal to a number of agents that needs a decision and is less than or equal to the number of clients. 
     
     
         14 . The computer program of  claim 13  wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium comprises further computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the device to perform operations comprising enabling more than one agent to engage a client by adding a lower ranked row to the value matrix for the client. 
     
     
         15 . The computer program of  claim 14 , wherein each engagement option is a pair path from an agent/client pair in a top row of the value matrix to an agent/client pair in each intermediate row of the value matrix and an agent/client pair in a bottom row of the value matrix wherein each agent and client in each agent/client in the pair path are different from other agents and clients in agent/client pairs of the pair path. 
     
     
         16 . The computer program of  claim 15 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium comprises further computer-executable instructions that when executed cause the device to perform operations comprising:
 setting a matrix value of each agent/client pair in the bottom row to a value of 1; and   setting the matrix value of each agent/client pair having successively higher client rank to a successively higher value by a power of 2 N−1  where N is a number of a row in which the agent/client pair is located in the value matrix with the bottom row having a matrix value of 1.   
     
     
         17 . The computer program of  claim 15 , wherein decreasing the initial path value of the candidate pair path based on agent/client pairs in the candidate pair path that are urgent agent/client pairs and based on agent/client pairs in the candidate pair path that are risky agent/client pairs comprises:
 for each agent/client pair in the candidate path that is an urgent agent/client pair, decreasing the initial path value of the high value pair path by the matrix value of the urgent agent/client; and   for each agent/client pair in the candidate path that is a risky agent/client pair, decreasing the initial path value of the high value pair path by a risk value based on the engagement capability parameter of the risky agent/client pair.   
     
     
         18 . The computer program of  claim 10 , wherein deriving the at least one engagement decision based on the best path comprises:
 responsive to the best path having an urgent agent/pair and the engagement capability of the urgent agent/pair is within a decision threshold or a time-to-go is within a time threshold, determining a first action for the agent in the urgent agent/client pair to perform;   responsive to agents in agent/client pairs in the best path not being urgent agent/client pairs, determining a second action for the agents in agent/client pairs in the best path to take wherein the second action to take for the agents in agent/client pairs in the best path is to stay the course; and   wherein transmitting the at least one engagement decision towards agents in the best path comprises:
 transmitting the first action towards the agent in the urgent agent/client pair responsive to determining the first action; and 
 transmitting the second action to stay the course towards the agents in agent/client pairs in the best path that are not an urgent agent/client pair. 
   
     
     
         19 . An apparatus configured to generate a coordinated set of engagement parameters by a processor in a multiple agent engagement decision system, the apparatus comprising:
 at least one processor;   memory communicatively coupled to the processor, said memory comprising instructions executable by the processor, which cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
 determining agent/client pairs in at least one priority tier based on a number of clients and a number of agents, wherein each agent/client pair has an agent, a client, and a client rank of the client; 
 determining a matrix value for each agent/client pair based on the client rank of the client of the agent/client pair; 
 determining an engagement capability parameter for each agent/client pair; 
 setting the matrix value for each disallowed agent/ranked client value to a zero value, wherein a disallowed agent/client pair has an engagement capability margin that is below a defined threshold; 
 evaluating a plurality of engagement options wherein each engagement option is a pair path from an agent/client pair having a highest client rank to an agent/client pair having a lowest client rank with each pair path having an agent/client pair for each client in the at least one priority tier; 
 for each engagement option, computing an initial path value of each pair path of the engagement option; 
 determining candidate pair paths by determining pair paths having a highest initial path value, wherein the pair paths having the highest initial path value are candidate pair paths; 
 for each candidate pair path, decreasing the initial path value of the candidate pair path based on agent/client pairs in the candidate pair path that are urgent agent/client pairs and based on agent/client pairs in the candidate pair path that are risky agent/client pairs to derive a final path value for the candidate pair path; 
 determining a best path based on the final path value for each candidate pair path; 
 deriving at least one engagement decision based on the best path; and 
 transmitting the at least one engagement decision towards agents in the best path. 
   
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein deriving the at least one engagement decision based on the best path comprises:
 responsive to the best path having an urgent agent/pair and the engagement capability of the urgent agent/pair is within a decision threshold or a time-to-go is within a time threshold, determining a first action for the agent in the urgent agent/client pair to perform;   responsive to agents in agent/client pairs in the best path not being urgent agent/client pairs, determining a second action for the agents in agent/client pairs in the best path to take wherein the second action to take for the agents in agent/client pairs in the best path is to stay the course; and   wherein transmitting the at least one engagement decision towards agents in the best path comprises:
 transmitting the first action to the agent in the urgent agent/client pair responsive to determining the first action; and 
 transmitting the second action to stay the course to the agents in agent/client pairs in the best path not being an urgent agent/client pair.